An assistant football coach has been accused of slapping a player on the back of his head during a youth football game.
A concerned parent sent 13 Action News a video during a TMT Red Lions game Monday night.
The assistant coach in the video, Deon Gill, spoke to us about his actions during the game.
He said the player in the video is his 12-year-old son and that he didn't have any malicious intent when hitting the boy.
"That's a love tap. That's nothing compared to what he takes during a football game," Gill said.
Gill said the game was tied and in overtime when he went to go speak to his son about his next play.
"I'm talking to him and I hit him in the head [and said] 'junior, go ahead and drive the car, you know what to do," Gill said. "He actually threw a touchdown at the end of that play."
His son Gill recalls the situation but said the slap didn't bother him.
"He just hit me in the helmet it didn't even hurt," Gill said.
Despite, the situation the National Youth Sports league suspended the assistant coach Friday.
In a statement the National Youth Sports league of Nevada said:
"We received video this afternoon from a concerned parent from an interaction between an Assistant Coach and his son on the sidelines during their game on Monday Night. This kind of physical behavior has no place in youth sports. TMT is new to our league and has only played 3 games. In the league they came from this is commonplace but won't be tolerated in NYS. A full investigation is now underway on the incident."
Gill told 13 Action News he and his son have played in the NYS for at least six years before TMT took over their team this year.
13 Action News reached out to both the opposing team and the TMT Red Lions who said they are standing by Gill during this suspension.
"If i get suspended for telling my son to do a good job, I mean I guess every other coach should get suspended from the division for that same thing," Gill said.
